Kevin “Squid’ Bolger, has been an NYC messenger for 20 years. He has been wearing Bern helmets for 9 years. A icon in the streets of NYC, he has seen the city and biking there change a ton. Squid was a pioneer helping to organize early alley cat races in NYC and pushing track bike racing with his velocity tour. Through earning his spot within urban bike culture he has used his fame and reach to help make cycling more safe and accessible to more people. He has served as a Bicycle Ambassador for Transportation Alternatives and helped to educate working cyclists on how to ride safely. To us, Squid is family and a key member of our team. He was the first cyclist that backed our product and helped us push our image throughout the world. We are proud to present a window into squids history, his life and his thoughts on cycling, helmets and NYC. For more info about Squid, checkcyclehawk.combernunlimited.com/sessions

Local breweries unite to raise money for the fight against Cystic Fibrosis. On July 20th, bikers will unite and tour the Columbus breweries. The tour will start at 9 a.m. at North High Brewing on the north end of the Short North and move on to eight other local breweries. Right now the schedule is as follows:

The goal is to offer the breweries, such as Buckeye Lake Brewery, The Granville Brewing Company and Actual Brewing Company, who aren't on the trail to be on tap at lunch at White Rabbit and join in on the bike ride. Tickets are $40 and get riders samples and a brief tour at each stop. Lunch is extra. Tickets can be purchased at North High Brewing, 1288 N. High Street, Columbus, Ohio 43201.

Visual speedo – The rear-facing LEDs change colour according to how fast you ride

Satnav – Use Google maps to plot a route. The rear lights indicate when a turn is approaching.

Ambient Lighting – Set the rear lights to any colour you want

Why aren’t bicycles sold with built-in lights?

There is no requirement for a car to have headlamps to pass an MOT or be driven legally during daylight hours, but that doesn’t stop manufacturers including them on every model they sell. They do it because they have assumed most motorists want to drive at night. So why on earth are things so different when it comes to bicycles?

Lights, mudguards and anti-theft devices have been incorporated into car design from the very earliest days of motoring, but cyclists are still waiting for these staple features.

It is possible to buy a bicycle already fitted with mudguards and lights, but in this country it’s very much the exception rather than the norm. And if these items were factory-fitted they could be incorporated into bike, which makes possible designs that are more elegant and difficult to steal than most after-market accessories.

Integrated technology in cars didn’t stop at mudguards and it’s now impossible to buy even the modest city car without airbags.

There’s no doubt that bicycle have a lot of catching up to do, but it could happen very quickly if major bike manufacturers adopted the design and technology being pioneered by Helios.

The City of Seattle has made it a priority to create bike lanes, but a University at Buffalo study has found that dedicated bike lanes are not necessarily the most important factors in reducing the severity of injuries in crashes between bikes and cars.

The UB study examined whether cyclists injured in accidents with motor vehicles while traveling in bike lanes had less severe injuries than cyclists traveling in the same lanes as motor vehicles. Previous research has shown that bike lanes do reduce the number of bike-motor vehicle accidents that occur.

The data show that other factors, including alcohol use by either the cyclist or the motor vehicle driver, riding in darkness – even with streetlights – and the posted speed limit of a road, are more significant safety factors for cyclists to consider and adjust for than riding in bike lanes.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

City politics, like physics, is a zero-sum game. Progress in one direction produces resistance in another.

But for advocates of bicycle infrastructure, the backlash to the boom continues to be a source of consternation. And it's the tenor of the arguments against bike lanes and bikeshare programs – rather than specific complaints about funding, parking or community involvement – that's inspiring all the angst.

Invoked to symbolize gentrification, wealth, whiteness, and oppressive elitism, bicycles have become fuel for the demagoguery of tabloid columnists, talk-radio hosts and politicians. In New York, mayoral candidates have scrambled to distance themselves from Michael Bloomberg's bike-friendly infrastructure campaign. In Washington, D.C., bike lanes were a sort of kryptonite for former Mayor Adrian Fenty, an insult interchanged with "dog parks" or "cupcake shops" to indicate the mayor’s perceived close relationship with the white community. In L.A., drive-time radio hosts attack the "tyranny of the bike cult."

Just get on a bike. It works. It really does. It doesn't matter if you're exhausted by the bike debate, or the alleged bike debate, or whatever this supposedly acid conflict should be called, because I'm pretty sure bikes are nowhere near as divisive as they are sometimes portrayed. I don't know anyone who would identify themselves as 'anti-bike.' I don't actually know what 'anti-bike' means. It sounds more miserable than being 'anti-beer.' Anti-bike? Really? I believe there are some worthy issues about the growing role of the bicycle in daily lives, genuine concerns about safety and responsibility and sharing the road. I know the subject has provoked colorful dissent, including at the newspaper where I work. I definitely know that cyclists can be annoying. I am sure I have been annoying as a cyclist. I am sorry. But I think there's always a solution that cuts through the acrimony and explains everything:

3 hours charging time, from completely empty till fully charged.Freewheel function, so this bicycle rides just as smooth without electrical assistance as any other VANMOOF bike. [VANMOOF 10 - ELECTRIFIED]

Turn Signals - Left and right blinkers keep you safe & visible on the road.

GPS Tracking - Track your bike via SMS from anywhere in the US. Receive the coordinates of your bike & a Google Maps link to its location within 30 seconds of tracking.

Visual Speedometer - The rear facing LEDs change color according to how fast you ride, providing you with a visual speedometer so you never need to have your phone out.

Turn-by-Turn Navigation - Find the fastest route to any destination by harnessing the power of the Google Maps API.The rear lights will indicate when a turn is approaching.

Ambient Lighting - Set the color of the rear lights to any color you want.

Over half of all bike fatalities are due to collisions with motor vehicles. This is usually due to lack of biker visibility- a problem that has always plagued biking. Helios Bars solves this problem by increasing overall visibility and providing a robust indicator system for use on urban or congested roads.

INTEGRATED HEADLIGHT

An ultra-powerful CREE LED provides you with a wide spread of illumination that keeps you as visible as a car when on the road. Our headlight outputs at 500 lumens— that’s about 5x brighter than a standard bike light! The best part is that since the light is integrated, it cannot be stolen off of your bike.

TURN SIGNALS

We are determined to lower the number of bike accidents that occur every year. Helios Bars come equipped with 2 RGB LED lights in the bar-ends that function as turn signals (aka blinkers). Simply press the tactile button on either side of the stem in order to flash the corresponding blinker for 5 seconds.

All Helios Bars come equipped with a low-power GPS module that tracks your bike’s location from anywhere in the US. Simply slide in a pay-as-you-go SIM card and you’re ready to go. Send your bike a text message (SMS) when you want to retrieve its location, and you’ll receive an SMS reply containing a Google Maps link to its current location.

Our GPS modules have a reserve battery that lasts up to 15 days, so even if a thief manages to remove your batteries, you’ll still be able to track your bike.

Here in Canada, as in the United States, people tend to generally view bicycles primarily for recreation or sport. Thus, when someone asks me how I arrived somewhere and I tell them I rode my bicycle, they naturally assume that I am athletic, brave, unusual, always late, and I probably need to take a shower.

In reality however, I arrive on time, I’m not sweaty, and I rode my bike not for a workout, but rather au contraire, I rode my bicycle because I am lazy.

I step outside my front door and hop on my bike because I’m too lazy to go downstairs in the parking garage to get the car. I pull my bike up to the front door at my destination because I’m too lazy to drive around looking for a parking spot then having to walk from the car to the building.

I ride my bike instead of taking public transit because I’m too lazy to go to the store to buy bus tickets, and I am far too lazy to dig for loose change under my couch. I am also too lazy to transfer from the bus to the subway to the streetcar, preferring to ride directly to my destination without transfers.

Instead of walking 15 minutes to my destination, I ride my bicycle there in 5. Yes, I ride there because I am too lazy to walk.

I ride my bicycle past dozens of cars at rush hour because I’m too lazy to be stressed out sitting in traffic and too lazy to explain why I’m late all the time.

I sold the last car I owned in 2010 and bought a couple solid bicycles because I was too lazy to maintain the car*. I was too lazy to renew my license plates each year, too lazy to fill up the gas tank, too lazy to shop around for insurance rates, and too lazy to take it to the car wash.

Now I just hop on my bike and go. Lazy transport. No insurance or major repairs required. No licensing, fuel, parking fees or traffic jams.

Urban bicycling is just pure, lazy, simple transport. Great for the body and wonderful for the soul.

Lumigrids is an LED projector for bicycles that hopes to improve safety during night riding. It projects square grids onto the ground and by observing changes in the grids, the rider can easily comprehend the landforms ahead. Lumigrids can be fixed onto the bicycle’s handlebars and the power is supplied by either an internal battery or by the rotation of the bicycle’s wheels.

As the designers explain, on a flat road surface, the grid will consist of standard squares. On a rough road surface, the grids will deform accordingly. By observing the motion and deformation of the grids, the rider can intuitively understand the landforms ahead. In addition, the luminous grids can make it easier for nearby pedestrians and vehicles to notice the bicycle, reducing the likelihood of collision.

Lumigrids has three modes with different grid sizes that can be used to adapt to different situations: normal mode (140x180mm), high-speed mode (140x260mm), and team mode (300x200mm).

One of the things I have always appreciated about Surly (long before I weaseled my way into their ranks) is the flexibility of the frames they make. I don’t mean the flexibility of steel as apposed to other materials to build bikes out of (but that too), what I mean is that you can do so many different things with several of the frames that they make.

As an example, my lovely wife has two Trolls and many people would never believe that they are the same basic bike, though you hardcore bike geeks out there would spot it in an instant, to the eye of the nongeektafied they totally different. She’s got one set up as a standard mountain rig, and the other is a cruiser style city bike. They both work perfect for what she needs and they ride and feel very different (at least as different as two bikes with the same geometry can ride and feel). This is achieved with stem height/length, handlebars, saddle, tires, drive train and even pedals.

Over the weekend I had one of my by-annual bike switcharoos in my basement. This is where I take some bikes that I don’t ride as much as some other bikes, and rifle through my parts bin and rebuild. It's a great way to kill a morning, and then you can spend the rest of the day riding around on your new creation and doing some fine-tuning.

That's what I did, and so the single speed, v-brake, slick tired Ogre was born. The bike was built entirely from my parts bin. Now to be fair, the wheelset was in my parts bin, cuz a friend of mine gave it to me, and the Paul brakes and levers where there, waiting for the right bike, but the rest of the parts are things that were once on another bike that got taken off, and thrown in the pile.

When you're out in the elements at night there are enough hazards to navigate without worrying about losing sight of what you've got tied down. The Nite Ize reflective Rope comes in 50' (15.24 meters) length, and is perfect for things like tent guy lines, hanging bear bags, boating, tying up tarps or shelters, and then being able to see where it is when you're done. Made of sturdy nylon with a special reflective strip woven into it that reflect brightly when light is shined onto it, the Nite Ize Reflective Rope increases safety for you and the people around you on the trail, campsite, water, and highway.[Nite Ize]

Monday, June 3, 2013

Joe Datsko was an admitted workaholic for the first 25 years of a 47-year career as a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Michigan. Datsko likes to say that until he was in his early 50s "most of my exercise was writing on a blackboard."

That changed in the early 1970s when the younger of Datsko's two sons — he also has three daughters — was invited to the 1972 U.S. Olympic trials in cycling. Robert Datsko, who was in high school at the time, failed to secure one of the 12 spots, finishing in the top third of the 66-person field.

"We became a bicycling family," Datsko, 92, recalled recently, sitting outside his apartment at Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville, where he now lives.

Datsko, who as a college student at Michigan once rode a three-speed Raleigh Golden Arrow bike from Ann Arbor to his hometown of Ebensburg, Pa., became the most serious cyclist of all.

The Tour of the Scioto River Valley (TOSRV) in Ohio, a 210-mile back-and-forth trip between Columbus and Portsmouth, became an annual excursion that eventually doubled as a family reunion.

And Datsko became one of the most dedicated riders in the Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society, a local riding club founded by his older son, James, and some friends.

"When I retired in 1990, there was a lot of publicity about celebrating 500 years of Columbus coming to America, and I thought it would be great for me to ride cross-country like my daughter had done," Datsko said.

Datsko was one of 45 who, with a Minnesota-based cycling club, started off in Bellingham, Wash. Then age 71, he was one of only six who rode every inch of the more than 5,200-mile trip that ended 12 weeks later in Portland, Maine. Fifteen riders dropped out after the first week.

ExoFusion - Exofusion shelters utilize an external frame combined with hybrid single and double wall panels, that allows us to create shelters unlike anything that has been seen or known before

Fast set-up - Because there is no separate fly to fuss with, an ExoFusion shelter sets up in far less time than traditional tents.

Dry set-up - Integration of the rainfly means your tent is protected during set up, rather than having the inner body get soaked before you can attach a separate flysheet.

Improved Ventilation - exoskeleton/hybrid wall construction allows vent placement and airflow planning that is not possible with traditional construction, so they stay dry and comfortable

Lighter - Hybrid walls, possible only with an exoskeleton frame, allow us to customize the tent interior with double walls where necessary, and single walls otherwise. Less material means a lighter shelter

Highlights
28 miles
Mostly gravel roads
Back Bay/False Cape State Parks
Wildlife - turtles, black snakes, birds
Rode the False Cape Landing Trail to the beach until it turned to soft and deep sand. Walked the .4 mile through the sand to the water. Saw dead stingray, Clythia shipwreck from 1894 and made it to the NC border. Picked up 5 big conch shells along the way too.
Lost my sandals at the park entrance when they bounced off the rear bag after the strap loosened.
Saw a whole group of overnighters heading out the park with bike camping gear.
Sunny, upper 80's to mid 90's.

On June 14th, I’ll strap on my helmet, check my lights, make sure that my load is secure, then climb onto my bicycle, look around for traffic and pedal off. But instead of leaving the grocery and heading home like I do each week, I’ll be in Banff, Alberta Canada and my destination will be the Mexican border, 2,750 miles away.

The Tour Divide is a single stage, unsupported offroad race along the Continental Divide. We race through whatever weather comes our way, sleep along the side of the road or trail (or hotels found along the way), eat food found at restaurants and gas stations and try to enjoy over 200,000 feet of climbing along the way. It’s a big undertaking to be sure, but small things like bicycle commuting has helped me prepare for the adventure.

1.I’m on my bike at all times of the day. Even with my legs tired from training, I try to get myself around town by bicycle. Sucking it up, especially on short trips, and taking my bicycle usually means that my errands are finished more quickly. Parking is never an issue and with great bike paths and bike lanes in Boulder, Colorado, it’s easy to navigate safely. During Tour Divide, I’ll spend up to 18 hours a day on my bike. Early morning and late night rides around town make cycling at that time normal.

3. Groceries make the ultralight camping gear I use seem uber light! With my city bike loaded up with fresh vegetables, juice, milk and other necessities, the ride uphill back home is not only a great mini workout, it also puts the weight of my loaded Tour Divide into perspective. It’s actually pretty light!

Nick's commuter bike packed down with groceries.

4. The ying and yang of urban riding and backcountry or rural riding helps me appreciate both.Bustling around town, on high alert for motorists, potholes, etc. can be a lot of fun. Getting out into the countryside, on back roads or trails, is the cycling antithesis of city life. Embracing both helps me enjoy both.

5. Using a bicycle to get somewhere you have to go, usually gives you the chance to dream of where you’d like to go on a bicycle. That inspires new adventures.

6. Depending on your bike to get to work on time requires preparedness. Like the Boy Scout motto, “Be prepared,” you need to make sure that your bike is reliable. The same goes for bikepacking, where you find yourself even farther from assistance.

7. I get in extra miles commuting around town, often with a load on a heavy bike.

8. On days when it looks dreary outside, a quick errand by bike will prove that it’s not so bad out. It helps me to go outside and train and remember to Harden Up!

9. The attentiveness required to stay safe in traffic is the same sort of thinking (quick problem-solving, anticipation) that helps when I’m out bikepacking. Offroad riding on a loaded bike requires focus on the trail and planning. Both commuting and bikepacking compliment each other extremely well.

10. It’s fun to run around town by bike! With the long training miles required for Tour Divide, a quick jaunt, in street clothes, on my city bike is refreshing. If cycling becomes work, it’s time to rethink it.

Cyclists jockey for position as they turn from Starling Street onto W. Rich Street during one of the races.

For about five hours yesterday, dozens of cyclists chased a Scion through the streets of Franklinton while being pursued by a motorcyclist in a referee’s jersey, all to the sound of LMFAO’s Sexy and I Know It. The high-speed procession was actually the Tour of Franklinton Race and Rally, a new closed-circuit bike race that organizers hope will be an annual spectacle in Columbus.

Spectators lined the urban neighborhood’s typically quiet streets to watch cyclists speed through the course, which measured only eight-tenths of a mile and featured six turns.

The short course meant spectators could see the contenders up to 30 times as they jockeyed for position during one of several high-speed races. Cyclists in the final race averaged 28 mph — with sprints approaching 40 mph — during the hour-long criterium race.

“It’s a chess match,” said Jeremy Grimm, a professional cyclist from Orrville, Ohio, who won the professional-level race. “It’s as much a mental competition as it is physical.”